January 15, 2014

American provides financial update to investors, says it has $10.3 billion in cash

American Airlines ended 2013 with $10.3 billion in cash and investments, the company told investors in an update on Wednesday.

The carrier, which merged with US Airways in December, provided fourth-quarter financial information to Wall Street in a government filing that was made in advance of its earnings report. American expects to report its fourth quarter earnings later this month.

American said its cash balance includes $1 billion in restricted cash.

"It is clear that AAL will begin tackling integration from a more robust base of profitability than in other prior mergers," wrote J.P. Morgan analyst Jamie Baker in a research note to investors on Wednesday morning after viewing the presentation.

Its mainline operations at American expects to pay an average of $3.06 and $3.11 per gallon of jet fuel while its operations at US Airways expects to pay between $3.00 and $3.05 per gallon of jet fuel.

Capacity at American mainline operations rose 2.13 percent in the fourth quarter and jumped 6.8 percent at US Airways' mainline operations.

The company also provided a fleet update to investors. American received 20 new Airbus aircraft and 39 new Boeing aircraft in 2013 while retiring 45 planes from its fleet. US Airways took delivery of 21 new Airbus planes and retired 20 aircraft last year.

Shares of American [ticker: AAG] opened at $28.90. The stock has risen almost 18 percent since the two companies merged on December 9.